Kiel Working Papers, Kiel Institute for World Economics
No 1406:
Keeping a Low Profile: What Determines the Allocation of Aid by Non-Governmental Organizations?
Dirk-Jan Koch, Axel Dreher, Peter Nunnenkamp and Rainer Thiele
Abstract: NGOs play an important role in international development
cooperation, but the allocation of NGO aid has rarely been mapped, let
alone explained. Based on a representative dataset for 61 important NGOs
from various OECD countries, we analyze the targeting of NGO aid across a
large number of recipient countries by jointly considering major
determinants of NGO aid in a multivariate regression framework. While our
results show that NGOs are more active in the neediest countries, we reject
the hypothesis that NGOs complement official aid through engaging in
so-called difficult institutional environments. Rather, they tend to
replicate the location choices of official “backdonors.” Moreover, NGOs
follow other NGOs so that aid gets clustered. Finally, NGOs select
recipient countries with common traits related to religion or colonial
history. Taken together, our findings suggest that NGOs keep a low profile
rather than distinguishing themselves from other donors and trying to excel
under risky conditions
Keywords: aid allocation, aid agencies, non-governmental organizations, poverty; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: F35; (follow links to similar papers)
32 pages, March 2008
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